1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the problem of excessive repair expense and increased equipment down-time due to inaccurate initial diagnosis of equipment failure.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present invention generally relates to the problem of excessive repair expense and increased equipment downtime due to inaccurate initial diagnosis of equipment failure. This problem can occur when maintenance personnel do not have access to historic information regarding similar or recent failures and repairs. It can also occur when a repair technician is inexperienced on the tool he or she is trying to repair, or is still in training.
The cause of an equipment failure in a factory is frequently not initially apparent. A maintenance technician will make a diagnosis and repair based on their training and experience level. With no access to historic data related to prior repairs, parts may be repaired or replaced without resolving the failure. Trial and error replacement of parts continues until the equipment is operational. Unnecessary replacement of parts results in extended equipment Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) and increased spending on components, some of which are quite expensive. This process results in additional equipment downtime if a new component is removed and returned to the spare parts inventory and the original part is reinstalled. An additional concern is that the lack of visibility to effective versus ineffective repairs can result in learning incorrect repair processes.